I've been in the market to replace my xfx 6870 1gb card which by the way has been a really good card to me. So I've been looking at the 7870's buy just couldn't make up my mind on which one, so I opened up my email yesterday and newegg sent me my normal deal emails and there it was...the sapphire 7950 card for 289 with a 20 mail in rebate making it 269. Also it comes with an and bonus multiple games download. The 7870's I was looking at was 259 price range, 2gb card is probably all I need since I'm single 27 inch monitor @ 1080p, but for a few more dollars I can get a 3gb card....yep I had to pull the trigger. I listed my 6870 sold it last night for 100 so I think I did good for 169 for a 7950. Hopefully have it by the end of the week. Unfortunately no spare card so I'm down for a few days but its worth it.

I also have xfx 6870 (oc edition) running in crossfire setup, and I have also been thinking of upgrading due to the lack of sufficient VRAM. I'm also looking at the sapphire 7950 because of the overclock-ability and low cost.

How much am I losing by going with a 7950 over a 7970 in terms of overclock-ability threshold and I am hearing about shaders being disabled on the 7950?

Is the Sapphire 7950 @ $269.00 really that great of a deal? Or is it cheap because its a cheaply made card? I don't want to jump on this deal and find out its a piece of crap compared to other 7950s.

I'm not sure because I can't find any reviews on this particular model because most of the reviews are for other models of the sapphire card. But if you go to the sapphire website and read the specs on this exact card it tells you it has a boost option to go to 925 MHz from 850 and it has unlocked voltage and they give you the trixx programming to use the unlocked voltage to be able to over clock it. So I figure if it boosts to 925 and they unlock the voltage and tell you this...they must have faith in there card if they promote over locking this card.

the sapphire hd 7950 card is a great card. with voltage overclocking you should be able to hit 1.15 Ghz. beyond that it depends on how good a chip you get. Also once you get to 1.2 Ghz the heat / noise is a significant factor. It might not be worth pushing for higher clocks. The performance gain you get would come at a very high power , heat , noise cost . the user reviews of the card at newegg are positive.

I also have xfx 6870 (oc edition) running in crossfire setup, and I have also been thinking of upgrading due to the lack of sufficient VRAM. I'm also looking at the sapphire 7950 because of the overclock-ability and low cost. How much am I losing by going with a 7950 over a 7970 in terms of overclock-ability threshold and I am hearing about shaders being disabled on the 7950? Is the Sapphire 7950 @ $269.00 really that great of a deal? Or is it cheap because its a cheaply made card? I don't want to jump on this deal and find out its a piece of crap compared to other 7950s.

The sapphire card is insane in terms of value. At the same clocks HD 7970 is 3 - 5% faster than HD 7950. Assuming the HD 7970 clocks 1250 Mhz and the HD 7950 clocks 1150 Mhz you are talking about 12 - 15% better performance. But the cost difference is 110 - 120 bucks when compared to the lowest HD 7970 and 180 bucks when compared to HD 7970 Ghz. Now you decide if its worth it or not.

FYI if you have a 1080p monitor HD 7950 (1.15 Ghz) will run most games like BF3 at max settings at 60 fps. Unless you have a 120 hz monitor there is no way you can tell a difference wrt HD 7970.Edited by raghu78 - 10/24/12 at 9:34am

So when I hear people saying that certain 7950 were made with a PCB from 7970, what exactly does that mean? Does it mean that essentially its an underclocked 7970, and that I would be buying a 7970 for a 7950 price? Would I have to do BIOS flashes to even take advantage of this? I guess even after reading a post about this, Im uncertain what exactly it accomplished to have the 7970 PCB.

If thats the case, I'd spend ~40 dollars more to get the 7970 PCB on the sapphire 7950 OC edition

So when I hear people saying that certain 7950 were made with a PCB from 7970, what exactly does that mean? Does it mean that essentially its an underclocked 7970, and that I would be buying a 7970 for a 7950 price? Would I have to do BIOS flashes to even take advantage of this? I guess even after reading a post about this, Im uncertain what exactly it accomplished to have the 7970 PCB. If thats the case, I'd spend ~40 dollars more to get the 7970 PCB on the sapphire 7950 OC edition

The HD 7950 on a HD 7970 PCB means more power . the HD 7970 PCB comes with a 8 pin PCI-E (150w) and a 6 pin PCI-E (75w) power connector. Alongwith the PCI-E graphics slot which supplies 75w, the max power which can be drawn is 300w. the normal HD 7950 PCB has two 6 pin PCI-E power connectors . so max power is 225w. But actually HD 7950 can easily run with 225w power and hit 1.15 Ghz.

Also with normal stock cooling its not practical to run 1.25 - 1.3 Ghz for gaming. Beyond 1.2 Ghz the heat and noise are significant factors. So unless you are watercooling and want to hit 1.3 Ghz the HD 7970 PCB is not of much use.

So when I hear people saying that certain 7950 were made with a PCB from 7970, what exactly does that mean? Does it mean that essentially its an underclocked 7970, and that I would be buying a 7970 for a 7950 price? Would I have to do BIOS flashes to even take advantage of this? I guess even after reading a post about this, Im uncertain what exactly it accomplished to have the 7970 PCB.
If thats the case, I'd spend ~40 dollars more to get the 7970 PCB on the sapphire 7950 OC edition

I'm sure there are better models that have better potential, that's not what this thread is about. I was just expressing the joy of a good value and a good card...not the best card but a good card for the price and I just can't pass the deal considering I was looking @ 7870's near the same price.

The HD 7950 on a HD 7970 PCB means more power . the HD 7970 PCB comes with a 8 pin PCI-E (150w) and a 6 pin PCI-E (75w) power connector. Alongwith the PCI-E graphics slot which supplies 75w, the max power which can be drawn is 300w. the normal HD 7950 PCB has two 6 pin PCI-E power connectors . so max power is 225w. But actually HD 7950 can easily run with 225w power and hit 1.15 Ghz.
Also with normal stock cooling its not practical to run 1.25 - 1.3 Ghz for gaming. Beyond 1.2 Ghz the heat and noise are significant factors. So unless you are watercooling and want to hit 1.3 Ghz the HD 7970 PCB is not of much use.